Can I just ramble aimlessly and ask a few questions about the AT for a few minutes.

[Venchka]

single figure celsius is a walk in the park in my opinion. $80 sleeping bag, no worries. I did the coast to coast in 2009 and got some unseasonal weather in late march, was -10c iirc (14f), that was cold and i wasn't prepared. I put every single item of clothing on, in a cheapo sleeping bag and i was still freezing and didn't get much sleep, got up at 6amish and packed up and started walking, was sweating buckets 5 minutes later even though it was still cold weather, the layers got peeled off quite rapidly, I wouldn't want that situation again so a decent sleeping bag is a must. I thought when I used to read journals and stuff that they were talking about single figure farenheit on a cold night in March in Georgia. that requires a proper sleeping bag in my opinion. Rain is a doddle, cold, proper cold, when you are sleeping is seriously problematic.

By the way the highest point in england is only 3200ft, oh and English weather is great, I love England. And US.

My shorthand wasn't clear. Daytime-hiking time. Temperatures just above freezing on either scale. Raining. For days. After dark it gets cold. All that rain freezes. You will need traction aids on your boots.
Search this forum for the reports from March-April-May 2013. It snowed a lot in March. The heaviest amounts were north of Asheville, NC. It snowed some in April. May: It rained. All of May.
Worst scenario: A foot of new snow. Followed by freezing rain. The surface of the snow is now the consistency of cement. Several inches thick. We encountered snow like this above 4,000 feet on the NC-TN border near Boone, NC the day after Christmas, 2009.
However, every year is different. Just trying to give you some examples of the worst that the southern mountains have to offer.

Wayne

[bfayer]

Why controversial? he is a top bloke in my opinion. That book was good, but other books of his are even better, proper funny guy.

Without going into detail and taking the thread off course too much, it is because his actions, attitudes, and sense of humor do not sit well with many folks that live south of I64.

Just remember when you get to GA, you are a guest in someone else's backyard. Many believe Bryson forgot that when he did his hike and wrote his book.

[1234]

Several years ago I started out with a fellow from Ireland. He way over packed food and fuel. Keep it light, simple it is a walk in the woods. you can fuel up and get food most every 3 to 5 days. What you will find surprising is Georgia is mostly dry counties, dry means no alcohol and when they do sell alcohol (Helen Georgia) no Sunday sales. This was shocking to the Ireland fellow, he had no idea such backward places still existed. Sounds like you have it all together, Mar 1 is a good start date to beat the heat so speak, but getting to far north to early means black fly season. I wear a head net and it offers some relief. You will have snow in the smokies and you will see several snow storms but they are gone is a couple days.

[Feral Bill]

Perhaps you would prefer southbound? Start after the worst of the bugs in Maine. Finish in late fall/early winter. Beat the heat.

[fiddlehead]

I am an englander, new to white blaze. I read the book "Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson in about 1998, it was his attempt at the AT. He is a yank, but always presumed he wasn't famous in America? he is somewhat anglicised and has spent much of his adult life in UK, he is very very funny, I’ve read most of his books. Well I think he did about 800 miles of it with his mate before finally packing it in, fair play to him. Anyway I like the countryside, I like America and I like walking (have done the 260mile pennine way once and the 190 mile coast to coast walk 4 times) so it has always been a dream of mine to do the whole proper AT in one big go. I genuinely believe I will do it rather than it being a pipe dream, or excessive bevvy talk down the pub - I've had a lot of travelling based dreams and I have acheived many of them.

This however is a bit more of a logistical task, not a 3 week christmas jolly to watch England retain the Ashes down under. 6 months off work and 5 grand english ($8000) I have pencilled in. This doesn't mean a sabbatical from work it means quitting my job, I'm 35 now, have pencilled in age 40 to sack it in. Upon return there is a fair bit of contract work in my game and so long as the economy is going half decent I'd be well happy returning to that instead of my permanent work presently, but I do want to wait a bit to allow me to make major inroads into my mortgage debt and put a bit away. So lets say March the First 2018 will be my start date, having quit the job on my 40^th birthday, bonza mate.

So, travel. London to Atlanta, and then Boston to London, say £600. $950

So, gear. I've never spent much on fancy gear and don't intend to for this, in fact I am very tight with money generally. However US is somewhat harsher than UK extreme weather wise. So I may have to get a fancy sleeping bag that will keep me warm in the mountains in March and April, (£150) then any old thing will do. Some thermals? (£50). Is there any real need for any fancy clothing after that, One way or another I will have a pair of walking boots then anyway so wouldn’t even consider them an expense, and I quite like to do a lot of walking in trainers. If I need to buy a new pair so be it. £200 $320

So, the walking. I did the coast to coast 190 miles in 8 days (24miles per day) carrying everything and camping or hostelling, that was hard work. North England can be rugged, but how rugged is the AT. I don’t for one minute think I can maintain 24mpd, but 16mpd on a walking day, = 135 days that leaves me a massive 45 days spare for rest days and travelling to the start, getting home at the end, bit of sight seeing, blister recovery time, walking in new boots with short days etc. I really fancy having a few rest days at the trail towns, get stuck into those whopping great big 16oz steaks you yanks love and buckets of bud then vodka and cokes and a good old laugh with the locals, maybe get lucky.

So, the accommodation. Camping and lean tos are free. That’s the majority, say 120 days. Then 30 in bunk houses($20?) and 30 in cheapo motels($50), twenni won hundred bucks, blimey this is getting expensive.

So, the food. When you’re on the trail, thinking noodles, peanuts, beef jerky, chocolate, crisps(chips to you yankee doodleites), basically junk food, but you get a lot of calories for your gram with junk food, I shall just have to make up for it by having a side salad with my steak and orange juice with my vodka in the trail towns. Oh yeah, is it acceptable to drink spirits around the shelters, not gonna go hauling a 24 case of beers up there so thought a bottle of vodka, help me sleep at night, take the edge off etc. Not gonna go terrorising the neighbourhood, and if there are kids and that around I would of course be subtle. 120 days on the trail, food and drink @ $8/day = $1000. 60 days in towns and what not = $40/day = $2400. Total Food = $3400

Total costs = about 7000 bucks, 1000 contingency fund, job’s a goodun. How could it possibly go wrong, see you there March 1^st 2018, it’s a date.

I would be very interested to hear anyone's thoughts on anything I've said, I'm not easily offended so give me both barrels if you think I may have said anything daft. Ta in advance.

Looks like you have it figured about right. (on just about everything)
I agree with whoever said that's a bit early to start.
15-30 days later would be ideal. (it's going to be hot sometime, somewhere but the Smokies can be a bitch in March.
Good luck and have fun. (I think you will)

[kayak karl]

OP is so polite they asked permission to ramble. is this a WB first? and Welcome, if it wasn't already said.

[hikerboy57]

OP is so polite they asked permission to ramble. is this a WB first? and Welcome, if it wasn't already said.

im pretty sure ive never asked permission

[bigcranky]

Your plan is sound, your budget estimate is decent, and you should be fine. +1 on getting the 6 month visa; I understand (but have no personal experience) that it can be difficult. There are some threads on Whiteblaze about this topic.

Plan to start at way less than 16 miles per day. If you plan for 8 mpd (yeah, I know, but bear with me) then you'll need enough food for 3+ days to get to Neels Gap, the first resupply point. If you make it there in two days, great, but if you have two days of food and find the trail much steeper than you expected, well.... you'll be hungry, anyway. I've hiked the Georgia section three times now, twice in early thru-hiker season, and many hikers find it more difficult than they expected, even those with hiking experience elsewhere.

[bishbash]

Thanks for all responses, sorry I cannot reply to each one individually. Can anyone compare the general going to walking the AT as compared to north england, or specifically the lake district. i mean everything is bigger and (allegedly) better stateside aye, sorry not a cheeky aside I love you yankaloids, done a bit of travelling over the pond and I always found the natives good as gold a terrible myth that they dont have a sense of humour. LD is the toughest part of the C2C (seriously if any of you come to England and have a bit of spare time then it is well worth a go, the prettiest part of england imo, proper beautiful) but I still managed 24 mpd up and down dale. One other thing, 8mpd, even taking it easy that will take me 4 hours, I mean that is a lot of time to use up, I mean doing the C2C you normally ended up in some sort of conurbation with pubs and stuff, but the AT is largely wilderness, a proper walk in the woods, so I imagine I would walk a fair bit as I would go mental finishing up at 4pm and then just hanging around camp all day.

[FlyPaper]

Thanks for all responses, sorry I cannot reply to each one individually. Can anyone compare the general going to walking the AT as compared to north england, or specifically the lake district. i mean everything is bigger and (allegedly) better stateside aye, sorry not a cheeky aside I love you yankaloids, done a bit of travelling over the pond and I always found the natives good as gold a terrible myth that they dont have a sense of humour. LD is the toughest part of the C2C (seriously if any of you come to England and have a bit of spare time then it is well worth a go, the prettiest part of england imo, proper beautiful) but I still managed 24 mpd up and down dale. One other thing, 8mpd, even taking it easy that will take me 4 hours, I mean that is a lot of time to use up, I mean doing the C2C you normally ended up in some sort of conurbation with pubs and stuff, but the AT is largely wilderness, a proper walk in the woods, so I imagine I would walk a fair bit as I would go mental finishing up at 4pm and then just hanging around camp all day.

I think I can speak for all yanks on white blaze in saying that we're quite honored that you're interested in hiking the AT. In my hiking, I've met a number of thru-hikers from abroad, and they've always been good company. As someone said, there is lots of up and down and much of it is over ground covered with rocks and roots. My first hike was so hard I seriously thought about faking an injury and calling my wife to come get me.

But with your hiking experience, you'll be fine. Someone suggested planning for 8mpd. The cool thing about thru-hiking is that you have close to 6 months. You don't really have to "plan" how far you'll get your first few days. Just set your expectations so that you won't be disappointed if you get fewer miles than it seems like you should. In Georgia, there are plenty of places to camp. You can walk until you're ready to stop, and most likely you'll find a camping spot about the time you're ready to stop.

Good luck. Perhaps I'll see you out there.

[bishbash]

Cheers FP. Work is a bind, if only I didnt have to and money wasnt an issue I would be out there fighting off the grizzly bears now, or at least March 1 2014.

[bigcranky]

To be clear, I didn't say you should hike 8mpd to start. I suggested that you carry enough food so that you could hike 8mpd if necessary. Given your experience, hiking 16 mpd is much more likely, but as I mentioned, I've met plenty of experienced hikers in Georgia beginning a thru-hike who find the terrain challenging compared to their home mountains.

Starting at the top of Springer (i.e., skipping the Approach Trail), 8 mpd puts you at Hawk, then Gooch, Lance Creek, and Neels Gap. Springer to Hawk is really quite easy and mostly level, so plenty of hikers just keep going. But the next stretch has a lot of vertical, and coming at the end of the day, it can be a challenge. I remember meeting a couple of older hikers at Gooch Mountain Shelter who had started at Springer that morning. They were not happy, and one of them had a pretty wrecked knee (ITB syndrome, I think), but both claimed extensive hiking experience. A couple of years later I met some hikers at The Hiker Hostel who claimed lots of experience hiking in California -- they were starting at Springer and my partner and I were continuing south, so we met them again two days later as they hiked over Sassafras and Justus with their giant packs. Singing a different tune, they were.

So go hike, and enjoy yourself, and plan on 16mpd to start. But be flexible and listen to your body (and your knees.)

[Pedaling Fool]

Fair warning to the OP. There are a lot more spiders in the U.S. than in the U.K., especially on the AT


http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...der-right-now/


You Are Within 6 Feet of a Spider Right Now

• By Gwen Pearson
• 10.23.13
• 2:30 PM

If you don’t follow UK news, you might have missed the entire island going completely bonkers over an invasive spider species. The False Widow Spider, Steatoda nobilis, was introduced to England about 100 years ago from the Canary Islands.

I’m not entirely sure why, but the British media suddenly decided that these little cobweb spiders are terrifying. After a month of frenzied headlines, a school was actually closed due to spiders this week.

Really. Dean Academy completely shut down because of suspected False Widow spiders found in an IT classroom. The entire school will be fumigated, and all athletic events are cancelled.

It’s difficult to convey why this is so incredibly silly without using a lot of four letter words, arm waving, and spittle. These spiders are NOT that dangerous. Headlines have used words like “rampaging killer spiders” and “flesh-eating,” but those claims are ridiculous and false.

These little spiders are related to black widows, but other than genetics and web structure, that’s about the end of the resemblance. They do not have venom that dissolves your flesh. They are not “flesh eating,” unless you are a fly or a cricket. They can’t “kill humans with a single bite!“; and there is NO record of their ever having killed anyone in the UK (or elsewhere, best as I can tell).

The headline above claiming there were “50 spiders racing” towards a mom is bogus. I don’t doubt that the woman in the headline above felt like there were 50 spiders charging at her, but that isn’t how these spiders work. This species is described as “notably sluggish, ponderous, solitary and non-aggressive.” They don’t live in groups or nests, they don’t hunt communally, and if you tried to make them charge someone, they would collapse. Spiders simply don’t have a respiratory system built for racing around after prey, much less terrified humans.

Why is there so much hype about these spiders?


This “Attack of the Spiders!” graph suggests spiders are practically storming the beaches from Normandy. Perhaps that is tiny Spider General Rommel in the photo?

Compare that map with this graph from a UK Natural History survey project, and it becomes clear this graphic has no connection to real, biological data.

It’s not just me that thinks the UK media coverage is over the top; the British Arachnological Society said:

The media hype about ‘false widows’ (by which presumably Steatoda nobilis is meant) is beyond reason and irresponsible….Everybody in the coastal counties of Southern England has had lots of them in their house and garden for many years, whether they have been aware of this or not. They are now one of our commonest southern house and garden spiders. The fact that harm caused by them is very rare should tell you something about how dangerous they really are.

So, there are lots of people and the media freaking out about spiders. And there are Arachnologists and people like me (insect pundits?) that are trying to get people to calm down and tell them a bunch of facts.

Guess which side is winning.


Hey, Ms. Pot Kettle. This article’s headline is pretty alarmist too!

It’s easy to write a story about spiders that will make lots of people share it. Many folks are afraid of spiders. Spiders regularly lead top 10 lists of human fears. But that doesn’t mean it’s ethical to play on those fears for page views. And that is why I hesitate to tell you that yes, you ARE probably near a spider, right now.

The “6 feet from a spider” saying is a bit of folk wisdom that actually has some truth to it. Want to fumigate an entire school for spiders? Great, go ahead. Within a week you will have plenty of spiders again. You can try to kill them, but they will come back. There is no such thing as “spider-proof” in a living, biological world.

Spiders aren’t invading our space because they like seeing us scream and freak out. They are just trying to make a living, and our homes happen to be places that are nice to live in. Heck, that’s why WE live there. It’s warm, it’s sheltered from extreme weather, and lots of other little animals are there for spiders to eat.

All those stories you see of “ZOMG it bit me and my leg fell off!11!“? Yeah. Highly unlikely. Spiders just take the fall for a whole host of other things that cause skin and circulatory problems because humans love to hate spiders. There just isn’t any data that backs up rampaging spiders attacking humans in either Europe or North America. Only about 4% of people seeking treatment for spider bites….actually have confirmed spider bites.

Six Feet? From a Spider? Right now? REALLY?

Yes. Really. A classic review of spiders from 1973 begins with this sentence:

“Where any form of terrestrial life exists it is safe to assume there will be spiders living close by.”

Spiders are common and all around you. In a survey of 33 different spider density estimates in that paper, ranges from 3 to 384 spiders per square meter was common. (I’d tell you the high estimates, but some of you might pass out.)

The UK freak-out over spiders is especially ironic since much early research on spider population density came from Britain. In classic work from 1958, Bristow estimated that there were about 2 million spiders/acre in a Sussex meadow, or a quite modest 49 spiders per square meter.

Now, about half of the readers of this article are going to need a little lie down after reading this. For those of you that are still with me, spider density varies widely depending on habitat. For example, estimated spider density in the Pacific northwest forest ranged from 6 to 10 spiders per square meter; that is about 40,461 spiders per acre.

Certainly, there is a difference between indoors and outdoors; and cultivated and wild habitats. One thing is quite clear, though: Spiders are here to stay, despite our best efforts. So there probably is a spider near you, right now. And you can’t see it, and it’s avoiding you.

If you’re afraid of spiders, my telling you all of this isn’t going to change much, and that’s ok. But do know that stories of death and dismemberment due to spider bites are not based on facts, and usually media hype along the lines of this bad reporting from the UK. If you are going to worry, worry about driving in a car, guns, or accidental poisoning, all of which are statistically more dangerous and real threats to your health and welfare.

Think you killed all your spiders? It’s unlikely, but you might have. Temporarily. We know that sheetweb spiders can travel kilometers for a new home, and you might have seen the news that Houston was covered with spiders this year. Spiders travel by ballooning on the wind in beautiful ways.

I’ll let E.B White, author of Charlotte’s Web, have the final say here in a lovely letter describing how he came to write his book about a heroic spider mother. Spiders are part of nature:

Once you begin watching spiders, you haven’t time for much else—the world is really loaded with them. I do not find them repulsive or revolting, any more than I find anything in nature repulsive or revolting, and I think it is too bad that children are often corrupted by their elders in this hate campaign. Spiders are skillful, amusing and useful. And only in rare instances has anybody ever come to grief because of a spider.

[rocketsocks]

I don't mind Spiders...It's those damn killer Tomatoes that bug me.

[MuddyWaters]

Start slow, build mileage slowly, or you increase your chances of overuse injuries, stress fractures, ITB syndrome, etc.
Section hikers can get injured, limp off the trail, go home and recover.

Not a good fallback plan for thru hike, or a trip you spent a lot of money on.

[Pedaling Fool]

I don't mind Spiders...It's those damn killer Tomatoes that bug me.

Don't worry, the U.S. Navy is on it http://tvblogs.nationalgeographic.co...killer-tomato/

[slbirdnerd]

Why controversial? he is a top bloke in my opinion. That book was good, but other books of his are even better, proper funny guy.

Welcome to WB!

I did like Bryson, but there are lots of other more "real" AT thru-hike books to read. Lots of threads here too on which ones to read. I suggest Skywalker, The Things you Find on the Appalachian Trail, Becoming Odyssa, both books by The Barefoot Sisters, Three Hundred Zeroes... The list goes on.

Read some more and hang around here for a while, you'll have a lot of info to add to your planning. Good luck with your hike when the time comes!

[Whack-a-mole]

Hope your hike here goes great! My biggest piece of advice--learn to drink your beer cold! People will think you are weird if you insist on warm beer. Other than that it sounds like your head is screwed on straight, enjoy our country, it's beautiful countryside and awesome people!

[Tri-Pod Bob]

Welcome to WB, bishbash..........from "the wilds of western Mass"! And on that subject, western Mass. that is, when you hike through here, be sure to check out Bash Bish Falls in the SW part of the state.

[English Stu]

Welcome to Whiteblaze. If considering a Thru I should not try and get by with a tourist visa and there is hassle to visit the American Embassy to get a full visa, so start that early.Your schedule will quickly go out of the window. Look to get return flights that can be changed economically as your plans will change and if you cannot change you can be kicking you heels for days in a motel waiting for your flight or if changing for other reasons.
Plans for handling money need to be well thought through. I found bank staff smile at our foreign credit cards and our driving licences for ID. Mine were viewed with suspicion as if I had just found/made them, which indeed I could have; and again you are a long way from home with no supplemental ID, other than you passport, or anybody to vouch for you. So make sure you have an good photograph in the passport and it looks like you. Carry spare photocopies separately of important documents like insurance,passport. Mine got very wet in Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Clearly within reason, but I have a message about me that my insurance company need to be informed prior to agreeing medical treatment (as it says in their blurb) tell Physicians this information.You may have an injury/sickness and not able to make the call yourself.
Do not get very low on cash, that is just the time you will hit problems and not being able to pay you way will halt your hike or leave you hanging about sorting things out.There are plenty of ATMs but small stores again will look askance at foreign cards and ID.
Enjoy your hike.